Gerold "Darkstar" Dayne

Men call me Darkstar, and I am of the night." -AFFC, The Queenmaker

I am on a pretty big Dornish kick recently, so here is a post on Gerold "Darkstar" Dayne and his importance to the series.

Note: As with any information outside of the canon remember it has been 12 years, who knows what GRRM has changed during that time.

Background/Character

I think one thing that is important to remember about Gerold Dayne is GRRM's intention with Darkstar as compared to readers' reaction to him. GRRM seemingly thought he was creating a cool/edgy character that readers would enjoy:

George doesn't seem to have known that Darkstar isn't very popular. He thought that a "bad boy" character would go over well, since people seem to love the Hound and even Theon Greyjoy so very much. -Elio Garcia (LA Con IV)

and while GRRM potentially tried a bit too hard to force a Boba Fett Syndrome on readers, the point remains that he was possibly attempting to add a "bady boy" to the Dornish plotline that readers would like. This (at least imo) would alleviate the problem created by the abandonment of the 5 year gap and Dawn.

And while people originally tinfoiled with his identity:

That was about the app, where George had answered a question about Darkstar's age. It basically made him the wrong age for both of the tinfoil theories -- too old to be Rhaegar's son, too young to have been Ashara's lover, or what have you. Not presently. The details we have in the app came from the notes George wrote when working on the Lands of Ice and Fire, and they were used only when they fit into the book. Maybe we'll pull more out of those notes for future updates. -Darkstar's Age (Elio Garcia)

I think GRRM was just trying to create this edgy/dark character who was good with a sword in the Dornish plotline:

"That's the one. He made Valyria tremble."
"They trembled," said Ser Gerold, "then they killed him. If I led a quarter of a million men to death, would they call me Gerold the Great?" He snorted. "I shall remain Darkstar, I think. At least it is mine own." He unsheathed his longsword, sat upon the lip of the dry well, and began to hone the blade with an oilstone.
Arianne watched him warily. He is highborn enough to make a worthy consort, she thought. Father would question my good sense, but our children would be as beautiful as dragonlords. If there was a handsomer man in Dorne, she did not know him. Ser Gerold Dayne had an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, a strong jaw. He kept his face clean-shaven, but his thick hair fell to his collar like a silver glacier, divided by a streak of midnight black. He has a cruel mouth, though, and a crueler tongue. His eyes seemed black as he sat outlined against the dying sun, sharpening his steel, but she had looked at them from a closer vantage and she knew that they were purple. Dark purple. Dark and angry.
He must have felt her gaze upon him, for he looked up from his sword, met her eyes, and smiled. Arianne felt heat rushing to her face. I should never have brought him. If he gives me such a look when Arys is here, we will have blood on the sand. Whose, she could not say. By tradition the Kingsguard were the finest knights in all the Seven Kingdoms . . . but Darkstar was Darkstar. -AFFC, The Queenmaker

and:

Once the kindling caught, they sat around the flames and passed a skin of summerwine from hand to hand . . . all but Darkstar, who preferred to drink unsweetened lemonwater.

The Queenmaker Plot

Darkstar was brought into the story as a member of Arianne's Queenmaker Plot seemingly for his skill with a blade and the value of his castle (High Hermitage).

Once I crown Myrcella and free the Sand Snakes, all Dorne will rally to my banners. The Yronwoods might declare for Quentyn, but alone they were no threat. If they went over to Tommen and the Lannisters, she would have Darkstar destroy them root and branch. -AFFC, The Queenmaker

and:

“We need him,” Arianne reminded them. “It may be that we will need his sword, and we will surely need his castle.” -AFFC, The Queenmaker

but even before his "deed" Darkstar was saying what would need to happen:

“Call it what you will. Crowning the Lannister girl is a hollow gesture. She will never sit the Iron Throne. Nor will you get the war you want. The lion is not so easily provoked.”
"The lion's dead. Who knows which cub the lioness prefers?"
"The one in her own den." Ser Gerold drew his sword. It glimmered in the starlight, sharp as lies. "This is how you start a war. Not with a crown of gold, but with a blade of steel."
I am no murderer of children. "Put that away. Myrcella is under my protection. And Ser Arys will permit no harm to come to his precious princess, you know that."

Arianne reaches the conclusion that he wasn't the "one who told":

Someone told, she thought. Someone told. Garin, Drey, and Spotted Sylva were friends of her girlhood, as dear to her as her cousin Tyene. She could not believe they would inform on her . . . but that left only Darkstar, and if he was the betrayer, why had he turned his sword on poor Myrcella? He wanted to kill her instead of crowning her, he said as much at Shandystone. He said that was how I'd get the war I wanted. But it made no sense for Dayne to be the traitor. If Ser Gerold had been the worm in the apple, why would he have turned his sword upon Myrcella?

but as I have noted the man is dangerous:

"Have you caught Ser Gerold?"
He shook his head. "Would that we had. You were a fool to make him part of this. Darkstar is the most dangerous man in Dorne. You and he have done us all great harm."

and:

"As it happens, I agree. Aside from Darkstar, your fellow plotters were no more than foolish children. Still, this was no harmless game of cyvasse. You and your friends were playing at treason. I might have had their heads off."

Dawn

With Edric Dayne missing in the Riverlands (and no one in Dorne cares), and the abandonment of the 5 year gap, the question remains, how will GRRM bring Dawn into the story?

Before he abandoned the gap, he potentially wanted Edric Dayne to become a knight of House Dayne and earn the Sword. With that glow up gone, GRRM potentially created another character who could wield it:

As she led the princess to the fire, Arianne found Ser Gerold behind her. "My House goes back ten thousand years, unto the dawn of days," he complained. "Why is it that my cousin is the only Dayne that anyone remembers?"
"He was a great knight," Ser Arys Oakheart put in.
"He had a great sword," Darkstar said.

The Sword of the Evening

If GRRM does choose to have Darkstar wield Dawn, I would assume it would be not through the normal acquisition methods (whatever they are) as he did try and murder a child. He also seemingly wants nothing to do with the name (basically the opposite):

Are you the Sword of the Morning now?"
"No. Men call me Darkstar, and I am of the night."

and:

"Last, but first in valor, I give you Ser Gerold Dayne, a knight of Starfall."
Ser Gerold went to one knee. The moonlight shone in his dark eyes as he studied the child coolly.

and:

"What I know is that Daynes have been killing Oakhearts for several thousand years."
His arrogance took her breath away. "It seems to me that Oakhearts have been killing Daynes for just as long."
"We all have our family traditions." Darkstar sheathed his sword. "The moon is rising, and I see your paragon approaching."
His eyes were sharp. The horseman on the tall grey palfrey did indeed prove to be Ser Arys, white cloak fluttering bravely as he spurred across the sand. Princess Myrcella rode pillion behind him, -The QUeenmaker

and while there is nothing confirmed about a "Sword of the Evening" either outside of my old username over on AFOIAF (pre 2016ish) and the name given to Vorian Dayne:

The Names of the Six Kings Sent by Nymeria to the Wall, as Related in the Histories: Yorick of House Yronwood, the Bloodroyal, the richest and most powerful of the Dornish kings deposed by House Martell. Vorian of House Dayne, Sword of the Evening, renowned as the greatest knight in all of Dorne. Garrison of House Fowler, the Blind King, aged and sightless, yet still feared for his cunning. Lucifer of House Dryland, Last of His Ilk, King of the Brimstone, Lord of Hellgate Hall. Benedict of House Blackmont, who worshipped a dark god and was said to have the power to transform himself into a vulture of enormous size. Albin of House Manwoody, a troublesome madman who claimed dominion over the Red Mountains. -TWOIAF, Dorne: The Coming of the Rhoynar

Vulture King

Also worth noting a number of outlaws using the name the "Vulture King" to the Iron Throne have used the Red Mountains (location of High Hermitage, Starfall, etc.) as their base. For example:

"Ser Arlan served your lord father when he and Lord Caron burned the Vulture King out of the Red Mountains, ser," he said from one knee. "I was only a boy then, but I squired for him. Ser Arlan of Pennytree." -The Hedge Knight

Showdown at High Hermitage/Starfall

Dawn is located at Starfall, but all implications seem to be that Darkstar is headed to High Hermitage for now. And he will feature in TWoW:

You want to know what the Sand Snakes, Prince Doran, Areo Hotah, Ellaria Sand, Darkstar, and the rest will be up to in WINDS OF WINTER? Quite a lot, actually. -SSM, A Taste of This, A Taste of That: 10 May 2016

Location

High Hermitage is located on the Torrentine in the Red Mountains, northeast of Starfall and as I mentioned before it is seemingly a strong castle:

“We need him,” Arianne reminded them. “It may be that we will need his sword, and we will surely need his castle.” -AFFC, The Queenmaker

and:

I also asked about the Darkstar who interested me a lot in AFFC. (I'm not calling him a favorite, because all of my other favorites have been killed). George said that he is from a lesser branch of the Daynes. Cousin to Edric, Arthur and Ashara. He has his own castle somewhere and does not reside at Starfall. -SSM, US Signing Tour (Denver, CO) 2005

Dayne Family Tree could be revealed in TWOW

Elio Garcia's comments:

George's draft of the Dayne tree did indeed note Edric's mother, FWIW.
I've a feeling it's something that George intends to publish in TWoW (since, well, he said that was the plan.) comment on reddit post: House Dayne's Crazy Rebellion Timeline, and a Possible Parentage Theory.

Areo Hotah aka "The Camera that Rides will likely be our POV

We don't have any other POVs in the area:

Yes, Areo Hotah will continue as a POV. -SSM, A Taste of This, A Taste of That: 10 May 2016

The Plot

With Myrcella telling Ser Balon that Darkstar did it and killed Arys, it seems like a group will be chasing after Darkstar:

I have a raven, Arianne thought, triumphantly, but who to send her to? The only one of her conspirators to escape her father's net was Darkstar. By now Ser Gerold might well have been taken, however; if not, he would surely have fled Dorne. -AFFC, The Princess in the Tower

and:

Hotah made no reply, except to grunt. Arianne could feel his anger. Darkstar had escaped him, the most dangerous of all her little group of plotters. He had outraced all his pursuers and vanished into the deep desert, with blood upon his blade. -The Princess in the Tower

and:

"No." Princess Arianne unfolded from the cushion where she sat and put a hand on Hotah's arm. "That wasn't how it happened, Cousin. Ser Arys was slain by Gerold Dayne."
The Sand Snakes looked at one another. "Darkstar?"
"Darkstar did it," his little princess said. "He tried to kill Princess Myrcella too. As she will tell Ser Balon

and in addition to Are Hotah, this group includes, Ser Balon Swann of the Kingsguard and Obara (of the Sand Snakes):

"Ser Balon is a guest beneath my roof. He has eaten of my bread and salt. I will not do him harm. No. We will travel to the Water Gardens, where he will hear Myrcella's story and send a raven to his queen. The girl will ask him to hunt down the man who hurt her. If he is the man I judge, Swann will not be able to refuse. Obara, you will lead him to High Hermitage to beard Darkstar in his den.

The Future

From the released TWOW chapters, we find Arianne thinking about her Darkstar:

Only Ser Gerold Dayne had escaped unscathed. Darkstar. If Myrcella's horse had not shied at the last instant, his longsword would have opened her from chest to waist instead just taking off her ear. Dayne was her most grievous sin, the one that Arianne most regretted. With one stroke of his sword, he had changed her botched plot into something foul and bloody. If the gods were good, by now Obara Sand had treed him in his mountain fastness and put an end to him. -TWOW, Arianne III

and they discuss the martial prowess a bit of the group:

She said as much to Daemon Sand that first night, as they made camp. "Be careful what you pray for, princess," he replied. "Darkstar could put an end to Lady Obara just as easily."
"She has Areo Hotah with her." Prince Doran's captain of guards had dispatched Ser Arys Oakheart with a single blow, though the Kingsguard were supposed to be the finest knights in all the realm. "No man can stand against Hotah."
"Is that what Darkstar is? A man?" Ser Daemon grimaced. "A man would not have done what he did to Princess Myrcella. Ser Gerold is more a viper than your uncle ever was. Prince Oberyn could see that he was poison, he said so more than once. It's just a pity that he never got around to killing him."

Note: We don't know how many men Hotah/Ser Balon/Obara took with them in support, nor who Darkstar has as well.

TLDR: A post focused on Gerold Darkstar Dayne in the story. GRRM seems to have intended him to be an edgy/badass character. The timing of his addition to the story coincides with the abandonment of the 5 year gap and we have potential showdown between Darkstar, Areo Hotah, Obara Sand, Balon Swann at a mountain fastness in the Red Mountains of Dorne.